No one wants to experience symptoms like tingling in your legs, prickling pain in your feet, or loss of balance. These and many other odd feelings can result from nerve damage caused by diabetes and keep you from enjoying fun events like the 4thAnnual Houston Improv Festival from April 16 – 18 at Midtown Arts Center. Luckily, you don’t have to improvise to come up with tips for neuropathy prevention—we’ll give you some right here!

Since diabetic neuropathy is the result of spiking or fluctuating sugar levels in your blood, the best thing you can do is keep your glucose level as stable and in range as possible. Here are some meal and snack tips to help you maintain even levels:

• Avoid bottle dressings on salads. Instead, use olive oil and vinegar.
• Avoid all grains, including whole grains, oats, wheat, and corn.
• Eat lean proteins. Avoid processed meats.
• Limit fruit consumption to just 1-2 servings per day. Avoid high sugar fruits like watermelon and bananas and stick with citrus fruits and berries. Avoid fruit juices completely.
• Lightly steam vegetables or eat them raw. They retain the most nutrients this way.
• 2/3 of your plate at every meal (including breakfast) should be filled with vegetables.

Keeping firm control of your diet is the first step in controlling complications of diabetes, but a second is to stay as active as possible. Be careful if you have already lost some feeling in your feet. Sharp objects, freezing temperatures, and friction from shoes can all cause problems that you may not notice at first. When you keep walking on injured feet, they get worse, so a third step is to check them every day for the slightest sign of any rash, scrape or cut that could open your feet to infection or not heal properly.

Finally, don’t put off regular checkups with Dr. Robert Parker in Houston. At Parker Foot & Ankle we specialize in nerve problems and have the latest technology to offer the best diagnosis and treatment for your feet. We can help identify nerve damage early to help you head off the worst consequences. Call us today at (281) 497-2850 or request an appointment online and halt neuropathy in its tracks.